Job search isn’t easy, especially at the c-level and senior executive level.

For every job seeker, at any professional level, there’s so much to do … so much to know … so much to worry about.

If you’ve been at it for a while, you may find yourself getting discouraged, and wondering how you’ll persevere until you land that job.

Here are some things you can do to keep yourself moving forward:

1. Bolster your confidence. Revisit your career marketing materials – the notes you compiled to create your resume, other documents, LinkedIn profile, etc. Remind yourself of your great past achievements and the value you offer your target employers.

2. Reach out to other unemployed friends and colleagues. See how they’re doing. Share a great tip, resource, book or lead to help them. Do this with no expectation of reciprocity.

3. Co-mentor with another job seeker. Find someone you can connect with frequently to share successes and strategies, and support each other through failures.

4. Join a job search support group. You’ll be among people going through the same ups and downs, who will share techniques that work and those that don’t. They understand what you’re feeling in a way that your family and friends may not be able to. Check out Job-Hunt.org’s list of over 800 networking and job search support groups by state.

5. Avoid negative people. You know who they are. “Half-empty” types and chronic complainers can drain the energy out of you.

6. Stay connected and reconnect with fun people. Refrain from dumping your negativity about your job search on them. Stay upbeat and re-energize yourself through their positivity.

7. Research job search strategies. Google things like”executive job search”, “executive networking”, “executive interviewing”. Try a new technique. My ebook covers the job search basics and will be helpful.

8. Build your network. Try to reach out to several new people each week. Go into it with a “give to get” attitude. Don’t ask them for help. Determine how you can help them.

9. Volunteer your time. If you have a favorite local charity or group, find out how you can help them. Approach this with a purely philanthropic intent. But know that people who volunteer sometimes fall into good leads.

10. Nip negativity in the bud. Do something to distract yourself and shift your thoughts. When you feel it creeping up on you, make yourself think of something nice, before negativity takes hold and pulls you down that dark path. Sometimes this works.

11. Plan for the worst case scenario. What will you do if the worst happens, whatever that may be for you? Having a plan can soften the blow if the worst actually happens, and can help you switch off the fear if you find yourself worrying too much that it will happen.

12. Forget about job search for a day. Take a week day off from job search every now and then, and do something for yourself. Go on a day trip with your spouse and/or family or alone. Spend the day reading a light novel, playing your favorite sport, tooling around with a hobby, or learning something new. Make yourself NOT think about job search at all.

13. Keep moving. It’s just too easy to spend all your time at the computer or on the phone. Refresh yourself by getting up and out. Take several renewal breaks every day.

14. Eat right. Especially eat a good breakfast every day. If you have an unhealthy diet, learn how to improve it. Learn how to cook and save money over going out to eat. Cooking itself is also a satisfying and positive diversion from negative thinking.

15. Sleep well. Even though you may not have to get up in the morning to go to work, try to keep “working hours”. Keep your body in the rhythm of going to bed and getting up at the same time. If worries are keeping you from sleeping, try meditation and deep breathing before you go to bed to empty your head of negative thoughts. Try keeping a pad by your bed to write down those thoughts or problems making you toss and turn.

16. Set realistic, but aggressive, daily job search goals. Keep at it until you complete your goals, then reward yourself by taking the rest of the day off.

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photo by pedro.desousa

Have you ever thought about the qualities in your close friends that you most know them for and rely on them for? The things that make you want to keep them close?

I’ve known my dear friend Marie Bernegger for more than 25 years. She’s steadied me through some difficult times. We’ve shared many happy experiences and laughed a lot. I know her character and personal attributes better than most.

Marie (@MarieBe on Twitter) is a multiple award-winning quilter who’s been at it for more than 30 years, and has struggled daily for more than 40 years with Type 1 diabetes.

Several years ago she joined the new TuDiabetes online community — now 20,000 strong — and immediately stepped in to welcome and comfort new people, many of whom had just received their diagnoses and often were paralyzed with uncertainty and fear. Members come together on the site to share strategies to better manage their diabetes and raise awareness for the disease.

Marie became a member of the TuDiabetes administrative team and has earned the reputation across the community for being compassionate, supportive, ethical, and genuine. These are personal attributes I’ve also come to rely on Marie for.

I think the folks at TuDiabetes would agree with me about her greatest strengths – creating, collaborating, seeing the details, and being precise.

She and I both love cooking and gardening, among other shared interests. I can always count on her to recall a recipe, from one of the many cookbooks we own in common, to make use of an array of ingredients I don’t know how to use up.

At this time of year, we have discussions about what’s in our gardens, how to keep everything healthy, and, of course, what recipes will best suit the bounty of herbs and vegetables.

Both of us are word nuts. If a word comes up in conversation that we’re unsure of, Marie is anxious to hit the dictionary to get the precise definition. We complain about the lack of good grammar these days, although we both must admit that we fall short ourselves sometimes.

Marie believes in following the rules for whatever pursuit she’s engaged in. She knows about and respects proper etiquette and protocols.

Her personal brand foundation, as I see it, is no more evident than in the way she led a recent project for TuDiabetes. This project allowed her to bring together two of her passions – quilting and TuDiabetes (she’s on a mission to elevate diabetes awareness).

She was asked by the Diabetes Hands Foundation, which runs TuDiabetes, to design and create a “Quilt for Life” to represent them at the annual Children with Diabetes conference in Orlando in July.

The quilt is a reflection of the Tudiabetes community, representing people with all types of diabetes, all ages, from all over the world. Marie’s idea was to bring back TuDiabetes’ “Word in your Hand” Program. In the quilt, 45 active members of the community are portrayed, each by an appliqued hand containing a word that expresses how they feel about diabetes, their type of diabetes, and their diagnosis date.

One of the people spotlighted in the quilt summed up the value of Marie’s work:

“Each one of those hands tells a life’s story that we can all understand in our own way. It makes you feel so much less alone in these daily tasks. This quilt should make us all feel good about our victories and not take the missteps so negatively. The quilt is a true thing of beauty and power.”

If you or someone you know needs help navigating a life impacted by diabetes, become a TuDiabetes member and feel better right away. And say hello to Marie!

Take a moment and think about your best friend. What is it about them that you admire? What is their personal brand all about?

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The first few months of this year, I had a particularly heavy writing schedule – finishing up my ebook and an unusually large number of client projects in the pipeline at once, along with my regular blog writing routine, and everything else that goes with running a thriving business.

My typical start-of-the-day routine – checking email and catching up with Twitter and other social media – was eating into my most productive morning writing hours.

I was finding that, by the time I took care of social media and moved my thoughts to writing projects, I didn’t have enough clear-headed brain power to do the work well.

Even if I told myself, “I’ll just take a quick look and, if there are no fires to put out, I’ll leave responding until later”, it didn’t help. I always got sucked in . . . and distracted . . . concentration gone.

Pretty quickly I began falling behind. Something had to give. The answer may seem obvious, but I guess I was so used to my routine, it took a few days to shake myself out of it.

Here’s what I did, and plan to continue doing:

No matter what – whether I was expecting a critical email or not – for the first 2-3 hours (more if possible) of every day that I had a writing project in front of me, I wouldn’t check email or social media . . . at all. Once I burned myself out with writing, or once I’d reached that day’s writing goal, I hungrily jumped into email, Twitter and the rest.

This time management practice has worked so well for me – boosting productivity and giving me that deeply satisfying feeling of accomplishment early in the work day. I actually get more done in a day, in fewer hours. It’s really all about prioritizing tasks and fitting them into my day when I’ll best be able to complete them.

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photo by Widjaya Ivan

No doubt about it, job search ranks right up there with divorce, having a baby and moving, as one of the most challenging life transitions you may have to cope with.

My friend Tim Tyrell-Smith, a career expert and life coach, offered spot-on advice in his post, How To Sleep Like A Baby During Job Search.

In particular, he spoke about overcoming those sleepless, tossing-and-turning nights – a typical problem for job seekers. I’ve added my thoughts to his 7-point framework. More than just a way to deal with sleeplessness, this is really a comprehensive action plan for whatever ails you in job search:

1. Set specific goals each day and accomplish them.

I would add that your daily goals should be realistic. Don’t set a goal like “I will land a job today”. Include several smaller goals in your day like, “I will spend 1-2 hours on LinkedIn looking for the hiring decision makers at my target companies that are on my list of people to connect with. I will see which LinkedIn Groups they belong to and join those Groups.”

2. Exercise and eat well everyday.

Important whether or not you’re job searching, exercising and healthy eating promote better productivity, thinking, and more restful sleep. Eating well will probably result in losing some weight, which can diminsh snoring, if you suffer from that sleep-depriving habit.

3. Find someone to talk with.

Don’t keep all your fears and stress inside. Family and friends can be very supportive and helpful in providing a different perspective, and to just unload to. You can’t keep all these things in and expect to sleep well and be prepared to tackle your job search to-do list the next day.

4. Take action.

If you’re floundering and getting nowhere each day, take the time to be introspective, determine what you may be doing wrong and how you can improve. If it’s been several weeks or several months, and nothing is happening in your job search – no interviews, no action, no nothing – you need to figure out how to fix it. If you’re completely stuck and don’t have a clue how to fix it, it may be time to turn to a professional.

5. Make new friends.

It’s probably asking too much of your family and current friends to be your only sounding boards. Repeatedly voicing your doubts and negativity can become overwhelming to them, especially since they’re probably not job searching themselves and aren’t going through the same things. Try turning outside your comfort zone to other job hunters. Look for job search support groups in your area in Job-Hunt.org’s Directory of Local Networking and Job Search Support Groups.

6. Create and maintain a family budget.

Creating a transition budget, so you’ll know just what you have and how long you can stretch it, can be extremely comforting. It may also be helpful to build plans around “what if” scenarios, like “How will we get by if I don’t land a job for X number of months?” and “Where can we, as a family, cut back right now?” Getting everyone involved and rallied around the common goal will make saying “no” that much easier.

7. Work to build confidence.

Let’s face it. The rejection and setbacks that go hand in hand with job search can be defeating and cause you to question your value. Tim wrote another excellent post to help you do the confidence-building work, 17 Ways To Build Confidence While Finding A Job, that includes things like:

• Take a day off and help others.
• Pay attention to your small wins.
• Remember your past victories.
• Re-write your elevator pitch.
• Add some new skills.

Related posts:

How To Tap Into Hidden C-level Executive Jobs

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photo by brains the head

March 8th was the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, first celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. In tribute, Krishna De (@KrishnaDe on Twitter), a fellow Reach Personal Branding Strategist, has compiled a free Slideshare report, 100 Voices in Business.

Reaching out for contributions from women in business across the globe, she asked us to share our best Twitter-sized tips and advice – 140 characters or less – in several categories. Some are practical, some are inspirational, all are worth taking to heart.

It was hard to select just a few juicy tidbits, but here’s a taste.

In the category Leadership and Inspiring Your Team:

#4 by Jennifer Brennan, a Communications Executive from Ireland (@jenn_bren_ on Twitter):

Be fair, honest and helpful. Always do what you feel is right. Help others, say thank you don’t forget to pay it forward.

#9 by Heather Gorringe, Managing Director at Wiggly Wigglers in the UK (@wiggled on Twitter):

Remember – success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

#22 by Gillian Meussig, President and Co-Founder of SEOmoz.org in the U.S. (@SEOmom on Twitter):

Always remember to bring your personal values to the corporate table.

In the category Networking and Building Effective Relationships:

#28 by Toby Bloomberg, President of Divamarketing Blog in the U.S. (@tobydiva on Twitter):

The secret to building relationships with women is embarrassingly simple. Listen. Hear. Ask. Respond. Chocolate is always good too!

#32 by Megan Fitzgerald, Expat Coach at Career By Choice in Italy (@expatcoachmegan on Twitter):

Maximise enjoyment and success by using your values to guide your choice of clients, partners, projects, teams and people in your network

In the category Productivity and Time Management:

#43 by Jennifer Britton, President of Potentials Realized in Canada (@jennbritton on Twitter):

Keep your vision in front of you, your eyes on your goals. One step a day consistently over time leads to results. Celebrate often

My contribution, #47 (@MegGuiseppi on Twitter):

Resist the urge to check emails and social media first thing each day. Put in 2-3 solid hours of beneficial work before getting sucked in.

In the category Professional Development:

#68 by Joanna Penn, Author, Speaker and Blogger at The Creative Penn in Australia (@thecreativepenn on Twitter):

Identify your passion. Research how other people are making income in it. Learn fast – Try it out – Fail fast – Persist – Learn more – Share

#75 by Viveka von Rosen, CEO and Founder of Linked Into Business in the U.S. (@linkedinexpert on Twitter):

Stop playing small. No more “Little old me” syndrome. We have the tools to claim our voices and our genius. So let’s do it!

In the category Work Life Balance:

#81 by Grainne Byrne, PR Consultant at GBC PR in Ireland (@grainnebyrne on Twitter):

Worried? Ask yourself will it matter in a week, a month or a year? Only the last one needs attention

And maybe my favorite, #95 by Anette ni-Dhathlaoi, Marketing Manager at ESB in Ireland (@nettyni on Twitter):

Learn 10 different ways to say no, without ever saying ‘No’

A client prospect I spoke with recently, a COO in retail, was struggling with whether or not it was time to transition away from the corporate world.

He was desperately unhappy in his work, and had been for several years. Somehow, as his career progressed to the c-level, he realized he had lost his passion for his work. He was making great money, but found little joy in his day-to-day life.

In his US News & World Report article, Does Having Passion for Your Work Even Matter?, Curt Rosengren offered three reasons why passion is one of the most important investments you can make in your career:

It’s an energy source.

Being on fire about your work energizes you. Instead of being an energy drain, your work becomes an energy gain. Instead of dipping into your energy reserves, as so many people have to, you’re creating enough energy from what you do to power your day.

It helps you feel more confident.

Too many people drag themselves to jobs that require them to be someone they’re not. This drains their energy and keeps them off balance. Trying to be who you’re not requires excessive energy. Maintaining the facade keeps you off balance.

Conversely, when you’re aligned with what energizes you, you achieve balance and strength. You feel confident about what you’re doing.

It feeds your persistence.

Challenges and roadblocks that inevitably come our way are much easier to manage and overcome when we’re pursuing things we’re passionate about. Roadblocks don’t seem as insurmountable.

I always counsel executives who are unhappy in their careers that, regardless of the economy, it never hurts to find out what else is out there that might bring them career fulfillment.

You just never know what’s right around the corner. It costs nothing but time to think about and explore what would truly make you happy.

Talk to people, do some research, do some soul-searching. Reconnect with your passions and explore opportunities that will ignite and excite you!

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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Although the thought of transitioning into an entirely new career in mid-life may seem foolish, many people feel compelled to move toward working their passion.

Somewhere along the way, progressing up in their careers, they lost their way. They’re not being true to themselves. Their work may satisfy financial needs, but doesn’t fulfill otherwise. They’re feeling a certain emptiness.

A friend told me the other day that her husband was thinking of a drastic career change away from the printing industry. This was what he’d always done, and felt it was his career path, but it just wasn’t working anymore.

His passion – making beer. He’d always wanted to be a brew master and was ready to give it a go, but was having a hard time getting a foot in the door.

I recommended these two terrific resources to help him explore, dream and discover:

1.  Vocation Vacations

Brian Kurth (@BrianKurth on Twitter) created an innovative program that connects career transitioners with mentors working in the exact job they want, so they can test drive the job of their dreams.

He has over 300 experts on board, representing over 125 careers, with whom you can partner and receive 2 days of shoulder-to-shoulder mentoring.

Some of the dream job vacations offered include:

Alpaca Rancher
Antiques Dealer
Archaeologist
Baseball Announcer
Boat Captain
Brew Master
Chocolatier
Comedian
Fishing Guide
Flight Instructor
Landscape Architect
Pit Crew Member
Shoe Designer
TV Producer
Vineyard Owner
Voice-over Artist

2.  My Lifestyle Career

Nancy Collamer’s (@NancyCollamer on Twitter) blogsite is loaded with advice and resources for people who want to make a change but haven’t reconnected with their passion and what they really want to do next.

In a recent “Career Reinvention Tip of the Week“, Nancy wrote the post, “Feeling Stuck? 6 Ways to Ignite Those “Aha!” Moments“, in which she suggested ways to break through clogged brain connections, gain perspective, and find moments of revelation:

1. Quiet yourself – Scientific studies confirm that people who consistently practice mind-quieting strategies, enjoy increased self-awareness and creative thinking.

2. Activate all five senses – Engage your whole body to help out your head. Your endorphins will flow and act like roto-rooter for your brain.

3. Rewire your brain – Fire up your brain by shaking up your “normal” — take a different route to work, try out a new place for lunch, go to a lecture on a topic you know nothing about.

4. Engage your intuition – Tap into the power of images and music to stir your soul. The visual and auditory stimuli can help open up your mind to new patterns and possibilities.

5. Reconnect with your inner child – If you want to recapture the “can-do” spirit of your youth, recreate your childhood by engaging in some of your favorite childhood activities.

6. Take a trip – Even if you can’t go on a full-blown vacation, just a day away from your normal environment can help you gain much needed perspective.

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Boomer Career Trends: The Graying of America’s Work Force

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FREE eBook Thriving On Less By Leo Babauta